


Hard Bargain

by Mix Stitch (Synph)



Series: Wizardverse [21]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Established Relationship, Familiars, Hunting, M/M, Mild Gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-14
Updated: 2013-07-14
Packaged: 2017-12-23 18:17:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/929586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Synph/pseuds/Mix%20Stitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ilian drives one hell of a hard bargain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hard Bargain

If Adrian had a cat as his familiar, he would probably wake up to dead mice and birds on the rug in front of the front door or in his slippers and an expectant feline staring up at him. Instead, he has Ilian and the steaming hot remains of some half-eaten forest animal spread out across the lawn in front of his .

*

"This is disgusting," Adrian says as he watches Ilian lick thick blood off the backs of his thin brown fingers with long sweeps of his pale purple tongue. He rolls his eyes when his familiar ignores him in favor of nudging the carcass of the horned beast towards him, uttering a low sound that is obviously supposed to urge Adrian to come and kneel on the dirt with him to feed. "Don’t make that noise at me, Ilian. I’m not getting down on the ground to eat raw meat with you."

Ilian frowns. “But Adrian —”

Adrian shakes his head. “I don’t even know  _what_  that thing is you’re eating. I’m not going to eat it and you probably shouldn’t either.” When Ilian snorts in response and dips his head so that he can tear at the flesh of his prey with his sharp teeth, Adrian frowns and takes a step forward, stepping outside the thrumming circle of the wards that surround the house. “We have actual food in the house and you won’t need a bath after eating most of it.”

Several moments later, Ilian pulls back from his meal and fixes Adrian with a sullen glare. “I don’t want to stop,” he says with a frown on his face that reaches all the way up to the depths of his pale purple eyes. “I got this for you and you didn’t want to eat it. I can’t leave it to waste.”

Sighing, Adrian reaches up and rubs at the space between his eyebrows as he feels a headache start to brew behind his eyes. “It won’t go to waste, Ilian,” Adrian says in a low voice as he comes closer to his sad-eyed familiar. “Something will eat what’s left of your little beastie and then we’ll use the bones to strengthen the wards. You did a good thing, but I need to know  _what_  my meat is before I eat it.”

Trying to take a gentle tone with his familiar, Adrian gives in and crouches down on the bloody ground in front of Ilian’s meal. “You were just trying to take care of me and I appreciate that,” Adrian says as he reaches out and brushes his fingers over Ilian’s blood-covered hand. “Thank you for trying, now please let me take you out back and bathe you.”

Ilian’s head tilts to the side, gummy indigo locks tumbling over one side of his shoulder. “I want a hug,” Ilian says with a nod of his head and he looks at Adrian with a wicked little smile on his face that makes him look more like a predator. “I want a hug once we’re back in the wards and you’re going to bathe with me.”

"If I hug you, then I’ll  _need_  a bath,” Adrian says, laughing a little at the pleasure that curves up the corners of Ilian’s wide mouth. Adrian stands out and then holds out his hand for Ilian to take. The strength of that contact makes their bond flare up brightly, gleaming like a light in the back of Adrian’s head. The connection snaps taut between them and Adrian hears himself make an uncomfortably high-pitched noise of shock. He hadn’t realized how long it had been since they last touched, but the proper grip of their hands solidifies everything once more.

"We can hug in the bath," Adrian says, already feeling a telltale hum of lust vibrating through their mental link. Whatever Adrian wants, Ilian wants twice as much and it makes him  _ache_  for more than that grounding touch. “If you get up and come back inside the wards with me right now, I’ll make the tub two times as large and we can spend the whole day there if that’s what you want. Please just come back in the wards where I don’t have to worry about being eaten.”

Ilian pretends to need a moment to think.

"I’m still not full," Ilian says softly. "Why should I let you take me away from my meal?"

"I’ll bring you breakfast in the bath," Adrian offers in a desperate tone. The thrumming lust in his head gets louder and louder until it feels like his teeth are set to jump right out of his head. "I’ll wash the blood and dirt out of your locs if you just come with me."

Ilian’s wide nose scrunches up in a frown. “Not good enough,” he says, purring a little when Adrian’s green eyes widen at him. “I can wash my own hair and I’m doing a fine job of feeding myself. Make me want this.” Ilian lifts one hand to his mouth and starts to lick dark blue blood off his fingertips, cleaning his hand properly as Adrian stands there gawping at him. “Or you could always stand there and stare. I’m not the boss here after all.”

Adrian mutters something nasty that barely reaches Ilian’s ears, but then the slope of his broad shoulders softens. “I’ll go with you to Akkadia,” Adrian blurts out, reaching for the first wispy thought that drops into his head as Ilian smiles at him with his pointed teeth bared. “I’ll leave the wards for a month and go with you to Akkadia to make my offerings in person. Is that enough?”

Ilian makes his way around the remnants of his meal and then wraps his arms around Adrian’s neck. He kisses his master quickly, nuzzling in against Adrian’s thin-lipped mouth and gets a hug at the same time. Heedless of the blood covering his body, Ilian sends feelings of happiness and understanding surging through the bond he shares with Adrian.

"I know how much you hate to leave the wards," Ilian says, pulling back so that he can see the look in Adrian’s eyes. "You don’t really have to come with me. The fact that you offered is more enough for me." Ilian kisses the side of Adrian’s jaw. "If you change your mind, I won’t be upset."

When Adrian opens his mouth, Ilian shushes him. “Don’t talk just yet,” he murmurs lowly. “We can bathe first and then go back and forth with each other on how we’re getting to the capitol if we’re going.”


End file.
